Pat-Med Football Edged 7-6 by Lindenhurst

It was the kind of game where one or two key plays were going to factor heavily into the decision.

Both teams only put together one drive in which they moved the ball effectively down the field. Fortunately for the Lindenhurst Bulldogs they did just enough to edge the Patchogue-Medford Raiders 7-6 Friday night at .

Senior Ken Skon spent the majority of the game at quarterback for the Bulldogs but it was when he moved out to wide receiver that Lindenhurst was able to put together a drive.

The Raiders lined up for a 30-yard field goal attempt midway through the fourth quarter. The line flinched and Pat-Med was whistled for a false start penalty – it’s fourth of the game. They lined up to kick from 35-yards out but the ball was well short of the uprights. Alec Wrieth opportunistically picked up the ball and scampered 50-yards down the sideline to set Lindenhurst for its eventual game winning drive.

“The kid didn’t kick it into the end zone and they could return it,” Pat-Med head coach James Chiarello said. “Half our guys didn’t realize and they got a big return that led to their touchdown.”

Wrieth’s heads up play set up the drive, but it was two key conversions by quarterback Brad Witkowski and Skon that put the drive in motion.

Lindenhurst was faced with a third-and-10 from the 49 yard line. Witkowski rolled out and hit a leaping Skon on the sideline. After initially ruling the play out of bounds the referees conferred and ruled that Skon had made the reception.

Skon’s second reception on the drive came on a fourth-and-four. Witkowski made another clutch throw off his back foot on a third-and-11 that set up David Fowler’s two-yard touchdown plunge.

“We brought in a young kid Brad Witkowski and he showed us a little something there at the end throwing some really key passes and taking us down the field,” Lindenhurst head coach Nick Lombardo said.

Witkowski ended the game 3/5 for 46 yards, with each of his completions converting either a third-and-long or a fourth down.

While neither team did much of anything in the first half it was Pat-Med who struck first on its first drive of the second half.

Senior Chris Makulik did most of the heavy lifting on the 73-yard drive, carrying the ball six times, culminating with an eight-yard touchdown run. Jack Keough also connected with Trevor Jacobsen on a 21-yard pass play on third-and-12 to keep the drive alive.

The Pat-Med defense almost held on for the shutout but was penetrated once. On this night that was enough to lose the game.

“Defensively we played great, we stopped most of their stuff,” Chiarello said. “We stopped their passing game, their running game, our defense did a great job and we had a good game plan going in.”

The Raiders thought they had retaken the lead after Joe Altrui broke through on a swing pass and scampered 50+ yards into the end zone. The play was called back due to an illegal man down field.

It was that type of game, decided by big plays and big mistakes. Both defenses played superb but in the end Lindenhurst was just able to do a little bit more.